The Christ Centred Cosmic Civilisation

Episode 51 - The Heavenly Hierarchy and the Seven Spirits of Scripture

May 30, 2024 Paul

Discover the mysteries of the heavenly order as PJ from the Global Church History Project joins me to unravel the scriptural evidence of archangels in Christianity. 

Together, we traverse the enigmatic passages of the Book of Revelation and the Prophet Zechariah, seeking understanding in the symbolic number seven and its divine connection to the spirits that serve before God's throne. With a focus on the angels' integral roles in divine governance, we chart the scriptural landscape, from the seven spirits as the eyes of the Lord canvassing the earth to the angelic lore that has shaped Christian belief for centuries.

Venture further into the angelic realm with us as we examine the curious case of John 5:4 and its absence from some versions of the Bible. 
Could the angel at the Pool of Bethesda be Raphael, the "healing of God"? 
We tackle such questions head-on, delving into the complexities of biblical canons and the varying interpretations embraced by different traditions. From the healing waters of Bethesda to the fiery presence of Uriel, the "flame of God," our episode paints a vivid tapestry of angelic tradition that both fascinates and enlightens.

Concluding our celestial journey, we reflect on the profound belief held by our Christian forebears in the existence and duties of heavenly beings under the Lord Jesus Christ's administration. I share how historical encounters with angels and the divine have stirred wonder and worship in the hearts of the faithful, and how a deeper understanding of these great angels' sacred work can enrich our reverence for God. We also highlight how archangels are celebrated within church traditions, feasts, and festivals, acknowledging their significance in our worship and church life with PJ's insightful contributions guiding our exploration.

The theme music is "Wager with Angels" by Nathan Moore

Speaker 1:

Well, welcome back to the Christ-Centered Cosmic Civilization and we're doing a deep dive on angels and archangels and all the principalities and powers of the heavens, and looking at scriptures and we're always wanting to say Christ is the center of attention, but under Christ we're just having a little bit of a thought about what the Bible tells us about angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, things, and also we're just having an awareness that there are books that are like adjacent to what I call the Bible, that have a lot to say about it, books that even get quoted in the Bible, and then there's this kind of traditions, like we've thought about Dionysius the Areopagite, who had the whole structure of that for us to think about, and we, I think in the end we've concluded dionysus is pretty good and even if some of his stuff has been corrupted by those horrible neoplatonists, um, nevertheless we can sort of extract from here that his original thought, which is full of good stuff. We've still got PJ with us, who's part of the Global Church History Project, and he produces a lot of materials for that, and his books are always coming out and I can't wait for this Candlemass. One is the one that's going to come out soon and that started off as a little book but it's huge now and it's got even recipes and things in it. The last I heard, but anyway the one we're really thinking about, is his book called Michaelbus down through church history, and you can, that's available, you can get it through Amazon and things I think. Get it through Amazon and things I think.

Speaker 1:

But what we're thinking, what we'd like to think about now, is draw our attention back to the archangels, particularly, and one of the things I was fascinated about in the book was the names of the archangels. Like I I know in the Bible we've got the archangel Michael and there's the archangel Gabriel, like I'm fine with that in the Bible. But first of all, I'd like him to tell us how do we definitely know there are seven archangels, because I'm like there's two, I've got two in my Bible and one of the things that PJ says says is not in the bible. There are seven in the bible. There are seven like of these. So I'd like him to first of all help us to understand the sevenness of the archangels, and is that really in the bible? And then, what about the names of them? Uh, how sure are we, and does everyone agree what the seven names of the archangels are? Let's start in the order, first of all. How do we know, is it, how confident can we be, from the bible as I understand the bible anyway that, um, there are. There are seven archangels.

Speaker 1:

So a key part of this is when we look at Revelation and Zechariah, because Revelation has a lot of the same themes as Zechariah, but in particular we see the seven spirits that stand before the throne of God. Some translation, although very few, but some have it as sevenfold, which it can't be really, because the word used in Revelation is hepta, where sevenfold is either heptakis or heptaplesias. So heptaplesion, that appears in Isaiah 30, 26, where it says the sun in the new creation it will shine, its light will be sevenfold, so seven times what it used to be. But we see heptakis when Cain, it said he will be avenged sevenfold. So sevenfold is a concept in the bible and it uses those words and it doesn't use it of these spirits that stand before the throne of god. And and then we also see the spirits that stand before the throne of god. They're mentioned in zechariah 6, 5, which mentions four of them, but then we see that there's seven overall in revelation, but we see four of them and they appear early. So it's mentioned there. There's spirits that stand before the throne of god and it mentions the horses they ride on. And then, knowing that, we see that, uh, zechariah 1 8 was talking about them, and there they're given a report to Jesus, which is I love that particular passage. So, yeah, so we have in mind who the ones who stand before the throne are. They're the seven, and then we see four of them elsewhere. But then when we go forward to like Revelation 8.

Speaker 1:

In Zechariah 4.10, is it where it says the seven eyes of the lord? That, yeah, is that one, yeah, that that is referencing and that we can see as well? It says the seven spirits that stand before the throne of god. Revelation says are the seven eyes of the lamp. So should I just read zechariah 4, 10? It says the seven eyes of the lord that run to and fro throughout the whole earth. So that seven eyes of the lord you're saying revelation actually specifies that those are. Those. Are these seven spirits, seven angels that have this great authority to represent the lord throughout the earth? Yeah, so, zechariah 4.10, carry on with your revelation ones.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so in revelation 8, 2, it said it says that you have seven angels which stand before god, so the ones who stand before god, we have seven, before they're called spirits. And then in 8 2, it says the ones that stand before god are angels, and we have that in mind. And then it mentions how, the ones that stand before god, they're given trumpets and then they're given vials, and then we go further in revelation. So there's always seven trumpets and seven vials. Isn't there? Yeah, so is these angels that stand before god who are the seven spirits they have, and they have seven bowls, seven vials, or you know.

Speaker 1:

And in revelation 7 1, we see that one of those seven standers comes and speaks with John and then he gives him a tour of heaven, just like he did Enoch long before. Then, when we go over to Revelation 19, john reckons one of these seven is God, so he tries to worship him and then this angel tells him off. So we can see why we want it to be the sevenfold spirit, because we've seen that the spirit is sevenfold and we see it in the menorah, but then, noticing what Philo says, that the sevenfoldness of the spirit goes into these creatures, and so that kind of starts in heaven, in a way that we have these seven archangels that are represented by these lamps that we see as the planets. In some strange way, the spirit gives them this kind of life and authority, but they are not God and they should not be worshipped. And that takes us to again, like a couple of podcasts ago, we were saying how we've got to not worship the angels and no matter how much we talk about them and we hold them in honour, never worship.

Speaker 1:

And so this particular angel? Yeah, now, I know there's a reference that I've got from something called the Book of Tobit. Now, what is that? Is that another one of these ones that's from, like an apocryphal book, and in that one there's a, there's one of the. It seems to be. It seems to be this archangel who is disguised himself as a human and then he reveals who he really is and it turns out he's an archangel. Is that a first summary, that is? And then, um, what's going on and what is it worth reading? Tobit, for those of us who have a smaller bible than that one, it's another one of those where we see in the very least illusions and some people say, direct quotations from the new testament of tobit and it's one of those once you read it you're like, oh, you notice some part of the new testament you might not have like fully thought, like where that? Where they're getting that from?

Speaker 1:

A lot of the times it's tobit also, that particular phrase. When he reveals himself he says I am raphael, one of the seven archangels who stand before the Lord. So again we see how that connects with Revelation. He says there are these seven angels that stand before the Lord and he expects you to know about them. Raphael does as well.

Speaker 1:

And then in Luke's account of the nativity we see the archangel Gabriel appear to Zechariah. So this is earlier on in it. I'm trying to find it in my Bible, I've got it in paper. I like seeing it. You know when is it? Yeah, there we go, chapter 1, verse 19. The angel answering said unto him I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God. So it's a very similar turn of phrase. So he says the Lord in Tobit, whereas Gabriel says God in Luke. But of course we know that they are basically synonymous terms. They introduce themselves in the same way. So one of the seven archangels who stand before the Lord, gabriel, speaks like that in Luke.

Speaker 1:

And then this guy is called Raphael and he is this Tobit book of Tobit 1215. Now it's a fascinating story, from what I can tell, where he's kind of disguised himself as a human and then he reveals himself to be an archangel and that idea that Hebrews talks about that you could invite somebody in and give them hospitality, and it turns out that that was actually an angel secretly disguised. That fits with the Tobit story, really, and I've heard it said that that verse in Hebrews is thinking of the book of Tobit, where the angels may be disguised as humans. Now, but let's not get distracted by that. The thing I want to focus on is he tells you his name, that he's Raphael. So, michael, we know Gabriel, we know from the straightforward Bible. Here's one who calls himself Raphael.

Speaker 1:

Um were, I've heard that like michael means who is like god, and you earlier were saying that he is the one who kind of, when satan, he fights against satan because satan says I'm gonna be like god, and it's as if michael goes who's like god except god, you know, and so he, maybe that's how he got his name. It's like he's like who's like god except god and it's like, ah, let's call him michael, because that's what he does. And then gabriel is like the power of god. That's what that means. And then you see that, like in the incarnation and things like that, where there's that by this work and power of god to become incarnate, and things like that, and this holy spirit is so like, seems to go with gabriel, like gabriel seems to represent the spirit in a way. Michael seems to represent the son, as we've already mentioned that, god the son, but rafael, um, rafael, as far as I can tell, means something like the healing of god.

Speaker 1:

Now then, in john 5, do you want to talk about this? John 5, 4, there's a strange thing, and it isn't even in everyone's Bible. Some Bibles edit out verse 4 of John 5. But do you want to tell us what it says? And then is this could this be? Anyway, you find John 5, verse 4. What does it say? Well, you could read, it's about this incident where there's a person who needs to be healed and they're at this pool and the pool's called the Pool of Bethesda, and anyone who gets down to the water first gets miraculously healed. And you might say, well, that can't be true, but actually the bible provides an explanation. John, chapter 5 is it verse 4? Yeah, it is well, because here I have a revised version of right king james, so they've gotten rid of it, but they've footnoted it so I can, and I have it on. I've, I put it here, yeah. So yeah, the version that they've edited out.

Speaker 1:

It says they were waiting for the moving of the water, for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and troubled the water Whosoever. Then, first, after the troubling of the water stepped in, was made whole With whatsoever disease, he was holden. Yeah, so there it is, an angel. The Bible says an angel would go down at certain times, stir up the water, first into the water gets healed of whatever disease they had. Now, because the name Raphael means the healing of God. Could that be Raphael?

Speaker 1:

A lot of people say it is and it makes sense, and a lot of people feel you can be. If you want to stick with a shorter canon, there are ways you can explain these things and you can see the names and everything and how they get it from your shorter canon If you want to, because there are a lot of people who feel like no, I've just got to make sure everyone knows this is scripture, and so I don't want to like rock the boat, and so if you do want to do it, there's still. You can see that that there is. There is an angel that seems to have special healing powers and responsibilities. So even if you go, I don't know if it's rafael, I don't know if it's an archangel, and I'm a bit like that, I must admit, I'm a bit like stick to this straightforward canon of the Bible, so, but I can see that obviously is an angel who's given this great authority and has sort of special healing responsibilities.

Speaker 1:

I'm very impatient, though, of people who go oh, they thought there was an angel. Now the Bible doesn't say they thought there was an angel. I don't, I really get upset when people try to explain away things in the bible and they do that with, like, oh, jesus, with a packed lunch he inspired people to share their packed lunches or they'll go the dead crossing the red sea. Um, it was very shallow water, and they just went oh, shut up, like, don't like, either believe it or don't believe it. But here it just says the scriptures say an angel did come down from time to time to trouble the water, because otherwise, if that wasn't happening, what are all these people hanging about waiting for if there was no healing to be had at all at the waters? And then jesus doesn't contradict it at all, in and he does heal. So to me I take that just totally literally. There is an angel who has got special healing powers, who stirred that water and straightforward, there it is and I can understand.

Speaker 1:

Then, given that the name raphael means the healing god, I even though that's not told us in the bible there you can see why it's easy to go. It could be rafael. I get that, and it's a common thing in a lot of like commentaries and so on to have names, because if you always refer to someone by a long-winded title, it's like oh, the angel who dipped his toe and all of that. It just takes ages. So people often come up with names, like the thief on the cross, they often call him dismas, and you know they come up with these names, which means what we see them do in the bible right, yeah, okay. And then now, then let's like so I'm very happy with michael and gabriel. I'm kinda I'm okay with rafael. I get that one.

Speaker 1:

What about this next one? Because there's four. That pretty much, is it fair to say, in all the Christian traditions around the world, these first four names, there's fairly much unanimity, is it fair to say, about what are the names of the first four, and in PJ's book he breaks all this down and there's a chart of the names of them and what different parts of the world have different views. Now, the first four. There's one other that everyone seems to be pretty united on and that's a guy called Uriel. What's that? What does his name mean, and where are we getting that name from?

Speaker 1:

So that means the flame of god, and so if that, um, he is the one that we saw in enoch and esdras. He's the one who educates, and so he teaches people the word and reads scripture to them, and he's a scribe as well, um, and so there's a lot we can think about the flame being kind of in scripture and so on from that. And is he? He sounds like because he's he. Was he the one who takes them to show them hell and things? Yeah, so he's like quite a fight, he's like going to judgment and things. Yeah, he is, but, of course, very patient. We see in revelation they're always asking is that? Oh, is it time yet? And then you know god's being like no, no, you got to hold on still. So he's obviously patient, but he has got this authority to judge and once it's time to judge he doesn't hold back. And does he like?

Speaker 1:

Just as we maybe spot Raphael popping up in John 5, verse 4, is there anywhere where Uriel like from this flaming archangel does he pop up anywhere in the Bible? Yeah, in Revelation. And because Revelation, when it starts off by saying this is sent from John and Jesus and the seven spirits, the seven holy archangels, they send their greetings and they possibly consider themselves kind of co -authors of Revelation, which is one of the incredible things about the book, because we see co-authors in Paul's letters and it's like you know, timothy also says hi, and then John kind of pulling rug, he's like well, jesus and the seven holy archangels say hi, they send this book. But yeah, when we see these holy archangels, they're send this book. But yeah, when we see these holy archangels, they're given these um bowls and they pour it out on earth and um, one of them, uh, stands in the sun, and so when you think you've got this flame of god, and then and it says he's given charge over all fire, where, where's that? You carry on talking a minute and I'll find that one for you, okay, yes, I've got these references in the book, but bouncing over these passages it does take a while. But he, yeah, he's got charge over.

Speaker 1:

It's Revelation 19, 17. You were open at the right page, I couldn't just see it. Yeah, yeah, revelation 19 17, 1917. Yes, and so you've got one standing in the sun, and the sun's often called like Fiery and flaming. That's not just like a revelation, you can see it yourself. The sun is like that. And Do you want to read that for us? And it's pretty ominous stuff If this, this angel, definitely is into judgment and bring like the bringing in the fire of judgment. Really good, if you read this to us, and then we'll see that. And I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid heaven come and be gathered together unto the great supper of God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit there on, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond and small and great. Wow, so there we are. That is an angel that is fire and is into judgment, and you're saying that does seem to be the case with this guy called Uriel. Yeah, and that just means the fire of God. So again, you could see why, if you were going to name the angel mentioned in Revelation, you'd probably say, well, we're going to have to call him Uriel, aren't we the fire of God? Yeah, absolutely, and he's mentioned in four.

Speaker 1:

Esdras is a book, because I know that the Anglicans, with the Book of Common Prayer, do have quotations from this apocryphal works and they do have quotations from Esdras and Enoch and and things, is it? Um, oh, the enoch isn't in the anglican one, although it seems like people like milton and so on. Oh, milton, like you know. But I know that you say that the anglican tradition does use dionysius. Yeah, and so I, I do like dionysius. I have to say so, and then maybe it's because I'm an anglican, but so the Anglicans do have two Esdras, as like in the Book of Common Prayer and things, and Uriel's in there, yeah, he's mentioned by name.

Speaker 1:

He's the one that shows Ezra, because Ezra, again, he cares a lot about the Bible and he founds the scribes and even though they've gone wrong by the time of Jesus, obviously, when it starts off with Ezra, the scribes, and even though they've gone wrong by the time of jesus, obviously, when it starts off with ezra, the scribes are great and, um, uriel is said to be a scribe himself in heaven. So he, yeah, there's that's quite strong tradition, and so, you see, like it's interesting noticing what kind of concepts the bible links together and being a scribe and being fiery we might think of scribes, and maybe our intellectuals aren't fiery very rarely, but in scripture, obviously, the people who, uh, keep in charge of the word of god, they've got to be fiery, kind of people, nice, and that's who, as ezra kind of was, and we see that he knew uriel and uriel shows him a lot of great stuff. And there's another angel. I know now, now we're gonna get. Well, let's deal with the complexity that there are three more, but they. There's a lot of disagreement about the names of the next three. Yes, now one.

Speaker 1:

There's one that I can feel is again sort of mentioned in the bible, because in revelation, chapter eight, there's an angel that gathers up the prayers of the saints and has them like an incense in a bowl, and um, his, one of the names given for the, this fifth archangel, is something like salafiel, which kind of means prayers of god, prayers of god. So again I can imagine is that there in revelation, yeah, it is, yeah. And another angel came and stood over the altar having under him much incense that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. Um, yeah, and he takes the censer and he fills it with fire and casts it on the earth. So we see the seven do that thing where they throw things on earth. So they have got administration over the earth. But then that one. So if there is an archangel who kind of seems to work on this business of communication from the saints to heaven, he's involved in that again.

Speaker 1:

Because if Selephiel just means the prayers of god, yeah, I could imagine I can buy that name too and I could sort of imagine he's the one mentioned there and in the biz, in byzantine traditions they do, and in spanish ones and portuguese ones they like using these names that are kind of like dismas and so on, like it's kind of inferred in scripture or it's like you could just say it is based on the bible, whether or not that's the name he goes by. It's accurate, you know, in that sort of way, just from what we're told in scripture. So they kind of go with those ones rather than any kind of traditional names. So those ones kind of make sense. Yeah, you can see them in the bible, all of those five. I'm sort of, even if I'm not absolutely sure. Rafael uri on the slephiel, that is the name it could be, but they certainly make sense that what they do. There are angels that seem to be described by that name.

Speaker 1:

What about these last two? Were you? I've got the names here and I've gone with the byzantine, I believe. Yeah, I've got Byzantine names or something on my screen. But can you give us like, who give us these two? There's two more. Can you explain?

Speaker 1:

So why is there such diversity in like you've got in your book, like Ethiopian traditions, iberian, anglican, coptic and then sort of Roman Catholic? Why is there such a range of views, particularly on these final 5, 6 and 7? So in the early church and the Dead Sea Scrolls they seem to agree, as I said, with Enoch. So they mention these Enochic names relatively fine. So what are the Enochic names for these last three, you've got the basic four, obviously Michael Gabriel, raphael, uriel, but then you've got Remiel, raguel, sirachiel and then Fanuel.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes as well, there's a seven plus one thing. A lot of them have a little bonus guy. He tags on. They kind of all seem to agree on that as well, which is an odd thing. Just on that little bit, while you've now that you've just mentioned that, there is a tradition that has that lucifer was, it was one of the archangels and there were eight, and there were eight, and then he blows it, and so that way the plus one is a bit like matthias, yeah. So they upgrade. Another angel gets upgraded to take the place of what was Lucifer's, and interestingly, in Enoch, that is Fanuel, who gets rid of all accusers from heaven so that no accusations make it, so that all our sins are forgiven, right, he makes sure of that by getting rid of all satan's even. It says, you know, right? So the the matthias guy who replaces judas in in the heavenly realms, this fanual guy's like we're not having any more accusations. So that's it. This has got to be a guilt-free zone. Heaven, the highest heaven. Okay, so I can, I like that fanual idea.

Speaker 1:

But what about then. So originally in the um, the book of enoch, we've got these names, yes, and but there is there's a kind of uh variety going down through history and around the world about these three. What is the reason for that? So, when augustine and others, you know, but he was one of the most influential voices kind of against Enoch, because he does that in the west, then they have shortened their canon a lot more and it means they don't have it because Enoch just gives the list of all seven. Uh, it means the west no longer has that.

Speaker 1:

Then a lot of people then speculate and sometimes they take ideas from like Kabbalah and things. So Pope Zachary says that's it. You're not allowed to inquire about anything but the names of the angels found in scripture. So let me just paraphrase that one of the dangers then that happened is people just start to kind of either invent stuff, can just totally invent it, or they derive from totally non-Christian sources and so in the end, like the pope and church leaders have to go whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, this is getting out of hand. You gotta stick to really like either directly only scripture or these books that are kind of possibly scripture or at least adjacent to scripture, where you cannot just go wandering off into all sorts of nonsense.

Speaker 1:

And that's where those kind of biblically derived names that we're thinking about, like Jagudial, salathiel and so on and those are based on a kind of exegesis of Revelation they become popular. And Barakiel just means blessing of God, doesn't it? Yeah? Or the thunderer of God, and that in particular, yeah, all the thunderer of God. And that in particular because you see, in Revelation there's one that looks like a lion and he thunders something and John tries to write it down, and then the other angel's like no, you're not allowed. Oh, yeah, that's right. So they say, whoever thunders, he's got the thunderer of God in him, so we can call him thunderer of God, and that kind of is one of those, one of those names. So that's another way where the name is given because it describes what this mighty angel does, yeah, and then Jehudiel, or Jehudiel, yeah, the glory or the praise of God.

Speaker 1:

Because we thought about how there's that one, salafiel, and he has a bowl of incense, because he's really representing, like, prayers being given to God, but then all the seven holy archangels have a bowl of incense and a harp for praise. So then they think, well, if there's one archangel dedicated towards the incense bit. There's got to be an archangel who's big on the harp. So they say, well, that one. Then he's the praise of God, because it says the harps are for praising God. So he's that guy.

Speaker 1:

So those exegetical kind of names pop up for that reason of trying to think like, all right, let's try and get them from Bible. And so they keep the name Uriel and so on, because they think, well, we can base it. You know, I like it. I mean, to me I find them plausible because in each of the time what has happened is you see an angel, a great angel in the bible, and then the you it's kind of our ancestors looked and thought, now what is that great angel doing? Ah, here's a name that describes what they're doing, and then that's the name that kind of has stuck for in Byzantine and you know, like huge amounts of literature and art has them and things like that.

Speaker 1:

So I love all this because I've got to confess like I've read some of these passages of scripture hundreds of times really and I haven't really bothered to take them seriously.

Speaker 1:

I'm being honest with our audience.

Speaker 1:

I'd say, oh, there's some angel who does something, and I just feel challenged that our ancestors didn't just whiz past these scriptures but said whoa, there's an angel that thunders in the presence of God and they really believe in and this is part of the point of this podcast the Christ-Centered Cosmic Civilization is that as moderns we just don't really believe that these things are real.

Speaker 1:

We just are deeply indoctrinated and brainwashed into this totally flat, meaningless, materialistic view of the universe.

Speaker 1:

But our Christian ancestors weren't like that.

Speaker 1:

They deeply believed that there really are heavenly creatures doing it in things and that the scriptures give us these little glimpses into it, not so we become obsessed with these things, but just so we know like there's levels of reality going on and angels doing extraordinary, wonderful things and that the whole universe, the and the earth is being administered by the Lord Jesus Christ through these delegated creatures that have authority and responsibilities.

Speaker 1:

And it makes me filled with wonder and awe that the cosmos is full of such wonders and to meet these creatures that do these wonderful works and this sense that when people in the Bible like Daniel and Ezekiel and John and others and Moses seems to encounter the whole lot he seems to have seen everything that you can see why they're so awestruck by the wonders of the heavenly realms and, most of all, by the Lord himself.

Speaker 1:

These are the people that are really deeply filled with fear of the Lord, love of the Lord, deep worship. So it's somehow that like to understand these great angels and the holy work that they do if we're doing it in a right way, a biblical way that makes us worship the Lord, god, more, have more fear, more wonder, more sense of his glory and his ways. So that's what we'll leave, that for this episode. We'll do, I think, one more episode on this matter of archangels. And we want to know how does this understanding of archangels show up in the church year, feasts and festivals to do with angels? Maybe we want to get this in our churches and things. I want to make sure this is part of our church life to take seriously angels. How can we do that?